


Test

by Beth Harker (Beth_Harker)



Category: Newsies (1992)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-30
Updated: 2016-12-30
Packaged: 2019-09-30 10:25:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 355
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17222231
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Beth_Harker/pseuds/Beth%20Harker
Summary: David forgot to study, which means nobody in the Jacobs family gets to sleep.





	Test

It was late at night. Sarah rolled over tried to go back to sleep, but the oil lamp burning at the desk behind her bed and the gentle scratch of pencil against paper prevented it. She sighed, and squinted over at her brother.

Once, not so long ago, David hunched over his schoolwork at any hour of the night had not been a strange sight. He’d been with the newsies for a year, however, and only back at school for a week. His time working had made him more like the working members of his family, pushing himself until he dropped through the day, then falling into a heavy sleepy each night, with no time or energy for worries. That time had come to an end. Still, he’d climbed wearily into bed at ten that night, the same as Sarah.

“You’re up,” Sarah muttered, half into her pillow.

“Sorry.” David turned the little knob on the side of the lamp, closing the metal grate to block air to the fire and make it smaller. By the time he was done, it was barely a whisper of light in the dark room, and he had to lean in close to it with his nose just about buried in his book in order to read it.

“Why?” Sarah asked.

“Why am I sorry or why am I up?”

“Up.”

David sort of groaned, almost like his old, world-weary self. “I forgot I had a test tomorrow. It’s Jack’s fault. He convinced me to stop by the lodging house and… well, here I am, trying not to fail whatever math it is I’m supposed to be studying. Have I mentioned I’ve been out for…”

Sarah threw her pillow at him. He’d mentioned it.

“That’s a fire hazard, Sarah. Technically I can say whatever I want now, because it’s not safe for you to…”

Sarah lobbed her other pillow at him, and it hit him squarely in the back. “It’s only a fire hazard if you have bad aim. Now be quiet and let me sleep. Not all of us prioritize time with Jack Kelly over our beauty rest.”


End file.
